Overview
- A jury convicted Janice Nix of manslaughter and child cruelty for the 1978 death of five-year-old Andrea Bernard after prosecutors said Andrea was forced into a dangerously hot bath and later died from infection.
- Andrea’s brother, Desmond, told police in September 2022 what he heard and saw on the day of the incident, which prompted the Met’s cold‑case review and the recovery of surviving coroner documents.
- Investigators and the Crown relied on a new pathologist and a burns expert who said the injury pattern did not fit an accident and that water hot enough to cause Andrea’s burns would normally make a child try to get out.
- Nix was arrested at Heathrow on 18 February 2025 after arriving from Antigua, was tried at Isleworth Crown Court, and was found guilty in May 2026 after the court heard conflicting accounts given by the defendant.
- The sentencing, which took place on Friday, June 19, 2026, handed Nix a 12-year term with two-thirds to be served before release on licence and highlighted the CPS’s commitment to pursue credible historic violent offences.